Four Distinguished Scientists to Give Beller, Marshak Lectures

The recipients of the 2012 Beller and Marshak lectureships have been selected and will give their talks at this year’s March and April meetings. The speakers were selected by the APS Committee on International Scientific Affairs (CISA), from nominations submitted by various APS units.

Terry Quinn from the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures in France and Roberta Sessoli from the University of Florence in Italy will be delivering the Beller lectures at the March Meeting in Boston, while Dong-Pil Min from Seoul National University in South Korea will deliver his Beller lecture at the April Meeting in Atlanta. Ömer Yavaş from Ankara University in Turkey will deliver the Marshak lecture at the March Meeting.

“The participation of invited speakers from abroad is an opportunity, in particular for students and young researchers, to hear about research carried out in other countries,” said CISA member Maria Allegrini of the University of Pisa.

Each lectureship comes with up to $2,000 in funding to help the recipients travel to the March or April meeting. The meeting program and other printed meeting materials will highlight the recipients as well.

“I am pleased to have been selected,” Quinn said. “The financial support has been welcome in my coming to Boston and presenting my lecture.”

The Beller lectureship was endowed by Esther Hoffman Beller to bring eminent physicists from abroad to speak at APS meetings. The Marshak lectureship was endowed by Ruth Marshak in honor of her late husband, Robert Marshak, to bring physicists to the APS meetings from “developing nations or the Eastern Bloc.” The recipients of both awards receive travel stipends to attend either the March or April meetings. Recipients have traveled to the United States from as far abroad as India, Israel and France.

“It is my great honor and pleasure to be selected,” Min said. “I hope this opens more wide communication within the world science community on seeking… more effective way[s] of collaboration and cooperation.”

Yavaş echoed this sentiment, adding that he was excited to share the work of the Turkish Accelerator Center with physicists from around the world.

“[I]nternational exposure at a large meeting like the APS March Meeting is a golden opportunity to inform your scientists about the status and future plans of physics in Turkey,” Yavaş said.

Sessoli said that she planned to use some of the funds to help bring a student from her lab to the meeting who would not have been able to attend otherwise.

“Beyond the economic support, which is always welcome as it will allow [us] to use the saved funds to allow [a] younger researcher of the lab to attend [the] international meeting, the major benefit is that the lectureship will probably allow my presentation to stand out from a very rich program,” Sessoli said.

At the March Meeting, Sessoli will deliver her talk on “Single Molecular Magnets on Conductive Surfaces” on Tuesday in session H13 at 8:36 am. Quinn will give his lecture titled “From Artifacts to Atoms: The Origins and Early Years of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures” on Thursday in session X2 at 3:06 pm. Yavaş will speak about The Turkish Accelerator Center on Monday in session B2 at 1:03 pm. Min will deliver his talk titled “The Korea Project” in an April Meeting session that has yet to be determined.